Virgin Australia helps Kiwi prank sister with small bearded man

A Kiwi woman teamed up with Virgin Australia to prank her sister and scored an unexpected surprise along the way.

For the past 30 years, Angela Rowe, who lives in Auckland, and her sister Marie Walker have played the same prank on each other: hiding a little bearded man in unexpected places to scare each other.

When Walker, from Whangārei, told her sister she was moving to Tonga, Rowe contacted Virgin Australia to give her sister a proper send-off.

“I can’t remember which one of us started it off – but in the past we’ve sent [the bearded man] in the post, hidden him under the sunshade in the car, left him inside an empty egg carton in the fridge, all kinds of things,” Rowe said, in a video posted by Virgin Australia.

“Angela slid into our DMs to let us in on the prank of a lifetime,” the airline said in the video’s description.

“Meet the ‘Bearded Man’ – who has been at the centre of a 30-year running joke between two sisters. Watch to see how we jumped on board to help Angela give this prank a grand finale.”

Walker was called to the front of the plane during the flight, according to Stuff, where the pilot presented her with the small toy.

“I can’t believe you guys went along with this!” Walker said.

On top of helping stage the prank of a lifetime, Virgin Australia also presented Rowe with two return tickets to Tonga to visit her sister.